Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology

The Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology is chaired by Dr. Richard Roman, who has established a dynamic, well-funded research environment. The research interests of the faculty are diverse; however, two broad areas of interests are cardiovascular/renal pharmacology and cancer therapy.

Multidisciplinary approaches, ranging from development of genetic animal models and whole animal pharmacological/physiological measurements to single cell and molecular measurements, are utilized to perform state-of-the-art translational research on metabolic-, cardiovascular-, renal- and cancer-related diseases. Core facilities for tissue culture, genomics, mass spectrometry, imaging and electrophysiology are established to support these research efforts.

Mission

The mission of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology is to perform basic and translational pharmacological research, train a new generation of basic scientists in pharmacology and teach medical and dental students. To accomplish this mission, the department has 16 full-time teaching/research faculty, necessary support staff and well-equipped laboratories and core facilities.

Typically, eight to 12 graduate students pursuing a PhD are in the department in any given year. In addition to training graduate students, the department teaches medical and dental students pharmacology and therapeutics and maintains outreach efforts to local high schools, colleges and universities.